In the past decade, a new icon has been added to Turkey’s culture wars: St. Valentine’s Day, or, in its Turkish adaptation, the “Lovers Day.” As Feb. 14 nears, many companies begin to run advertisements offering the most romantic gifts, dinners or getaways for loving couples. In return, Islamic preachers or pundits advise fellow Turks not to be fooled by this “propaganda,” which they see as an agent of cultural degeneration and moral corruption.
This year, too, the Islamist arguments against St. Valentine’s Day did not change much. Various writers in Islamist papers and websites warned that there are at least three good reasons for refusing to celebrate the day of romance. First, the man on whose name the whole thing is based, St. Valentine, is a Christian saint, someone that Muslims should not follow. Secondly, the shopping frenzy that Lovers Day promotes only serves “capitalism,” something that good Muslims are supposed to reject. Thirdly, the whole St. Valentine’s Day culture promotes pre-marital sex, which, of course, Islam regards as grave sin.
